Applicant has previously disclosed and patented a commercially significant improvement upon those prior plastic and metal closures for bottles and containers which are designed to include a tamper-evident feature. In most cases, this tamper-evident feature had comprised a lower shoulder or skirt portion of the closure, which was in some way intended to fracture or break upon removal of the closure from the container, so that it then became evident that the container had been opened. A large number of these closures had been known in the past, even on a commercial basis, and particularly in connection with soda bottles and other such containers maintained under significant pressures. Up until quite recently, metal closures had predominated in this respect. However, applicant's prior invention which was set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 142,429, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,408, has now been quite successful in replacing these prior closures.
In that regard, applicant's patented closure has significantly improved upon these prior closures, particularly in that applicant's device has now permitted the closure to be removed cleanly and efficiently, and to obtain the fracture of the lower skirt portion in a highly reliable manner. Furthermore, applicant has provided a commercial closure which can be applied in a single step to the container or bottle, and which can at the same time result in efficient breaking or fracturing upon closure removal.
In the past, it has also been desired to produce such a tamper-evident closure in which the skirt portion of the closure, which is intended to remain on the container after removal of the closure itself, is somehow caused to drop down on the bottle, so that even after the upper portion of the closure is returned to the bottle or container, it remains visibly clear that fracture has previously occurred. That is, in the large majority of these prior closures this has not been possible, and even where efficient fractures were obtained the skirt portion, which remained on the container, substantially maintained its original location vis-a-vis the annular collar portion of the container, so that upon reapplication of the top portion of the closure the top portion of the closure and the skirt portion were sufficiently close together that upon casual visual observation it was not always apparent that fracture had occurred. When this occurred, the entire purpose underlying the use of these closures would then have been defeated.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,616 to Fields, the desirability of this drop down feature is discussed. In that case, the closure includes a metallic skirt 23, which depends from the side wall 13 of the cap 2. In this manner, upon removal of the cap skirt 23 is intended to drop downwardly until its shoulder 27 abuts bead 29, so that the skirt envelopes bead 29 on the bottle as shown. This patentee also provides for coloring the upper surface of the shoulder 27 so that it can be visually observed upon removal.
Another such closure as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,268 to Patel et al, as is the desirability of such a drop down feature is again discussed. In this case, the closure includes both an annular flange 24 and a lower skirt portion 22 depending therefrom, and after breaking off from the closure locking member 28 is left around the neck 12 of the closure, as shown in FIG. 4 thereof.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,028 to Lohrer also discusses the desirability of such a drop down feature. In this case, the patentee employs a push-off tab 10 facilitating removal of the upper portion of the cap 4 from the lower apron 11 by tearing along tear strip 12. Once this tearing operation has been completed, the patentee states that the interior bulging portion 12a is therefore no longer urged upwardly against protuberance 3 and apron 11, which fits loosely around the container, will drop downwardly.
Other closures of this general type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,102 to Grau; 3,968,942 to Herrmann; and 4,299,328 to Ochs et al.
It has therefore been recognized as being very desirable to fine a closure of this type which cannot only be easily applied, but whose fracture is assured with ease and without the inadvertent removal of the skirt portion, as is the case in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,408, but which is also devised in a way which insures that, subsequent to fracture, the remaining skirt portion drops downwardly from its original location directly below the collar portion of the container so as to provide clear visible evidence of fracture in all cases.